Competiton driving John Ryan to keep going well into his 30s 

John Ryan and Mark Donnelly. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ben Brady

John Ryan will fall short of 200 appearances for Munster when he leaves for Wasps this summer but the tighthead prop believes he has plenty of rugby left in him to make a success of the next stage of his playing career.

And if the Corkman manages to bow out on 199 caps for his province, then it will mean Munster have reached the United Rugby Championship final and the chance of long-awaited silverware will represent a more significant note on which to leave for pastures new.

For now, though, game number 197 will be the focus as Munster prepare for an away URC quarter-final at Ulster in Belfast this Friday night and Ryan, 33, believes if everything clicks for Johann van Graan’s team as it did during an impressive run between league defeats to Leinster on April 2 and May 21 then the upward trend in the side’s attacking gameplan will bear fruit.

The 35-25 defeat to an understrength Leinster side last time out has turned the potential path to the June 18 URC final a more difficult one that means Ryan has played his last game at home in an 11-season career. Yet it will not have changed his feeling that Munster are in a much better place to take their opportunities in play-off rugby than they were last season when they reached the PRO14 decider on league position in a Covid-shortened campaign but failed to land a punch on perennial champions Leinster.

“Looseness is a funny word to use but we’re not a one-pass or a two-pass team,” Ryan told the Irish Examiner recently. “We’re definitely putting the ball wider and everyone’s a ball player. Everyone has the job of putting the ball where it needs to be, it doesn’t matter what number’s on your back.

“So we’re definitely in a better place in our attack, we just need to make sure we put everything together, we hit it up when we have to hit it up and play it wide when we have to play wide and the pass has to go.

“So we definitely have licence to play.” Ryan described his career as a slow burner that eventually earned him 24 Test caps with Ireland having started out playing both on both sides of the front row, loosehead and tighthead.

“I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. It’s funny, the changing room changes all the time and I think it’s probably the best shape it’s been for the entire time I’ve been there because the young fellas are hungry.

“There’s so much talent there and those 20-, 21-year-olds, they’re brilliant.

“You’ve got Josh, Diarmuid Barron, Keynan Knox, Thomas Ahern, Roman Salanoa… these kind of guys are creating such depth that we probably didn’t have before and when people say we’re better placed this year, that’s because we’ve had setbacks with injuries and fellas have just come in and totally taken their opportunities.

“That’s creating more headaches for the coaches. It creates disappointment but also competition within the squad and that is probably something we haven’t had before.” Ryan does not disguise the fact he will leave his home province with a heavy heart after being told before Christmas that his contract would not be renewed this summer. Yet he is enthusiastic about making the move to the English Premiership despite Wasps also signing World Cup-winning Springbok tighthead Vincent Koch from Saracens for next season.

“I was chatting to Cossie (Munster academy manager Ian Costello, ex-Wasps defence coach) about it and my brother (Will) actually got coached by (Wasps head coach) Lee Blackett at Rotherham when he was head coach there so I spoke to him as well and so all things were pointing to Wasps.

“It was a very difficult decision because Vincent Koch is signing with Wasps but it seems like a really good fit. There were other clubs in there and it was very tempting but Wasps are building something.

“People did ask me ‘why are you going to Wasps with Vincent Koch is going there’ and then next it was ‘why are you going to Wasps because Munster killed them in January and December’ but they have a really good squad, a really good coaching set-up and they were blighted with injuries. I think they’re going to be a very, very good team in the next couple of years and I hope to be a part of that.

“I’m 33 but I feel like I’ve so much more left in the tank. I had a lot of rugby in me before I was 28 but I feel like 28 was the age that I kind of came of age as a prop and that’s only five or six years of top-end rugby and I’m certainly looking forward to playing another two or three years.”